


The Big Picture

by guineamania



Series: 1MW Bingo March 2016 [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Assault, Crossover, Earth-2, Everyone is generally confused, F/M, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:25:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6258154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver Queen finds himself stumbling through the streets of a city that he knows but he doesn't know. Felicity seems to be his wife and hates him and everyone seems shocked he is the Arrow. <br/>Felicity Smoak's ex-fiance is being held captive by Zoom but Oliver isn't fighting back, the Oliver she knew wouldn't let himself be held captive.<br/>Everyone just needs to take in the big picture and come together, across the boundaries of worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For the 1MW Bingo prompt: Assault ... it escalated

Oliver moaned as he slowly sat up, checking himself over for injuries. He had been on his way back to the foundry when John called in an assault only two blocks from where he was. Staying out all night was his way of trying to give Felicity space and he was enjoying helping people on a one to one basis not having the world hanging in the balance. All he could remember was he fought off the attackers but a swirling vortex like a black hole raced into existence, throwing him to the ground. Then he blacked out. It was strange, metahuman travelling from parallel worlds to kill Barry sort of strange. But Zoom hadn’t been in Starling, all the breaches were in Central City so why would there be one in the depths of the Glades. And also why would Zoom open up a breach then not do anything. And how did Zoom open a breach anyway. He would have to call Barry but his comms link was fried from the impact. The alleyway was exactly the same as when Oliver was concussed, because he was pretty sure that the impact of his head hitting the concrete was responsible for the slight light-headedness and his temporary unconsciousness. All of this just because some thug decided to assault a woman in his city. He had to get back to the Arrow Cave and get the call over to STAR Labs for them to come out here and deal with this. Oliver stumbled to his feet using the wall as leverage and jumped up onto a rickety fire escape. It wouldn’t do for the Arrow to be wandering around the streets and he did have to concede that riding a motorbike with a concussion would not be one of his greatest ideas. As he climbed he heard footsteps approaching and talking loudly. “It came from round here. We need to find him,” the female voice stated, Oliver wasn’t hunted by the police anymore but he didn’t like the sound of an organisation that was hunting for him that wouldn’t contact him directly. He set off in a jog as he reached the roof, heading back to the base underneath his old campaign office.

He dropped to the pavement outside the office’s back door with a louder than he would have liked thump before keying in the code. A red light blinked back at him. Oliver frowned and punched in the code again; the door still wouldn’t open. He was in the process of typing it in again when he heard a familiar rattling noise. Oliver dove away from the noise with his arm over his eyes but the stun grenade still had the required effect. His ears rung painfully and black dots swum across his vision as Oliver tried to get his bearings back. Men in black with guns swarmed the alleyway and Oliver managed to take down two before his hands were tied behind his back and a sedative stabbed into his neck. The hood was pulled down and the mask ripped off his face before he began to slip. “I, I don’t understand. Call the boss, she’ll want to see this,” one of the men stated stunned, as Oliver fell into unconsciousness.

 

As far as kidnappings go, that one was one of the better thought out attempts. They clearly knew where he would be and managed to immobilise him before he could prepare to fight back. Oliver came to in a pretty sophisticated holding cell. He had been stripped down into just the undershirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms that weren’t his; a shame really, ever since he was last kidnapped he kept a blade on the inside of the waistband of his trousers. A few minutes after he woke up, footsteps approached his cell and so Oliver sat up slowly coming face to face with Lyla Michaels. “Lyla? What is this?” Oliver questioned, he frowned as Lyla’s stern expression turned to a glower.

“Be quiet Mr Queen, or should I call you the Arrow?” Lyla snapped, the confusion only grew.

“Um, Oliver’s fine. Why have I been arrested by ARGUS? If you needed me you could have just called Dig,” Oliver stated slowly, why did Lyla hate him suddenly? It was Diggle that still held the grudge for the Al Sah-him debacle not Lyla.

“Don’t you dare bring my ex-husband into this Mr Queen! Now you are going to tell us everything you know about the League of Assassins,” Lyla exclaimed, now it was getting weird. Nyssa had disbanded the league when Oliver had made her Ra’s al Ghul after defeating Malcom. They had even gotten a divorce leaving both of them free never to see each other again. That agreement had been working quite well up until now.

“The league, the league has been disbanded. Nyssa disbanded it when she became Ra’s al Ghul after Malcom,” Oliver murmured, Nyssa burned the ring in front of all of them. It was gone.

“Nyssa al Ghul left the league after her father took in you. Al Sah-him, heir to the demon.” Oliver froze, his face a picture of shock. Lyla knew he wasn’t Al Sah-him, that was all just an act to get closer to Ra’s and take him down. Lyla knew that. “He’s not talking. Maybe he will talk to you,” Oliver heard Lyla whisper, drawing him out of his shock. He looked up into the eyes of the next interrogator. Felicity.

 

“Felicity,” Oliver whispered breathily as he took in his love. She just didn’t look right, her hair was tied back in a bun and she was wearing an entirely black pant suit, not her usual bright patterned dresses.

“It’s Agent Queen to you Al Sah-him,” Felicity snapped as Oliver got to his feet.

“Agent Queen?” Oliver questioned, stepping closer.

“Yes Agent Queen, because I married you before I found out that my husband was an assassin and terrorist. Or did you forget about that while you have been parading around the city killing,” Felicity snarled, her voice taking on a malicious twist that it never had done before.

“Married,” Oliver parroted again, his head was throbbing as the sedative and concussion caught up with him, but that was all he could focus on. He stepped towards the bars, reaching his hand out to tuck a stray lock of Felicity’s hair behind her ear. With a flash of movement, Felicity had stepped back from the door and a hand gun was pressed against his forehead. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to remain strong.

“You are not the man I married. Are you going to tell us about the League or do we have to force you to talk?” Felicity stated again, composing herself slowly.

“I don’t know what has happened to everyone, honestly I am starting to think I am still unconscious in that alleyway and I’ll wake up soon but to pander to my delusions. I can tell you whatever you want but I am not the Heir to the Demon anymore. The league has been disbanded by Nyssa al Ghul after I defeated Malcom Meryln and gave her the Demon’s Head Ring,” Oliver explained calmly.

“You are lying, you have always been lying. I thought my husband was a primary school teacher not an assassin,” Felicity continued, but Oliver had been hit with a realisation. Everyone was different; Felicity wasn’t his Felicity. Some might even say this Felicity was the opposite. Earth – 2. It all made sense. Zoom hadn’t brought anything through the breach because he dragged Oliver through instead. He must have found a way to open breaches and was forming a plan that needed the Arrow out of the way. But he could have easily killed him when Oliver was concussed; unless this was a hostage situation, of some sorts. Then why let Oliver roam free to try and foil his plan. Unless this world’s Arrow was in on it; and Oliver Queen was a scapegoat. A scapegoat that wouldn’t deny being the Arrow to the woman he loved. It all made sense now.

“I need to talk to Barry Allen.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Felicity, have you seen Ollie?” Thea asked, striding into Felicity’s apartment uninvited as soon as the blonde opened the door.

“No, why would I? I told you all I was taking some time away to sort things out,” Felicity frowned, hitting that the youngest Queen should make herself scarce. Felicity still loved Thea and her company but anything to do with Oliver hurt at the moment.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m just clutching at straws right now,” Thea mumbled, thumping down onto the sofa with a heartbroken look towards the photo of the whole team on Felicity’s wall.

“I’m sure he’ll surface. You know his sulks are monumental,” Felcity sighed, settling down slightly more gracefully next to the younger girl.

“He was ambushed last night and we haven’t heard anything. No rumours of a new power, no ransom. He’s just gone,” Thea explained slowly, tears in her eyes. Felicity’s heart stopped; she still loved Oliver. They needed sometime to clear the air but she had forgotten the reason why there were so many secrets. Because this life could get you killed any moment and they had learnt not to leave anything or it might end of being too late. It was too late. Oliver was missing and she wasn’t there to help. Maybe if she had been in the Arrow Cave she might have been able to warn him and they could get back to not seeing each other. “It’s not your fault,” Thea sighed, leaning against Felicity’s side. “I can see the guilt on your face. But I’m here to ask you to please come back and help,” Thea begged and Felicity nodded, she planned to help anyway. Just because they were on a break, that didn’t mean she didn’t care about him.

“I’ll be there,” Felicity smiled weakly, dislodging Thea so she could pick up her bag, shoes and coat. There was no time to loose with Oliver’s life in the balance.

 

Oliver sat in his cell, meditating like Maseo and Tatsu had taught him to. The interrogators had left him be for the moment once he had tried to convince them that he was from another world and a villainous meta-human from Central City was trying to frame him for the crimes of another. He couldn’t call them Lyla and Felicity anymore. They weren’t Lyla and Felicity; they just happened to look exactly like his best friend’s wife and his ex-fiancé. He knew this tactic to get the prisoner to sweat but he was grateful. He needed to plan out his next moves and correlate everything Barry had told him about Zoom and Earth-2. If he remembered correctly then the Harrison Wells here was still alive; the Barry was a CSI but not the Flash; the Iris was a police detective; the Caitlyn was evil but she fought against zoom, probably dead now; Cisco was evil and is now dead. Oliver just had to pray that Earth-2 Barry would understand that he was Earth-1 Oliver. It was his best chance. He needed someone who knew about the breaches but Barry was probably hiding from Zoom, how would they contact him? “Thank you for being discreet, if he was to know we were here then we would be in big trouble,” a vaguely familiar female voice came into his hearing and Oliver’s eyes flinched open.

“Of course, we are happy to offer you protection if you help with our little problem,” Felcity added, peaking Oliver’s interest. Maybe they had been able to get in touch with Barry. If they had tried then that meant that somewhere in her mind, Felicity believed him. He still had a chance of getting home.

“We are not experts on the alternate worlds just because we encountered our doubles,” that was definitely Barry’s voice. He would recognise his friend’s voice anyway.

“He asked for you,” Lyla stated, and they all quietened down as they approached the door.

The door was pushed open and Oliver jumped to his feet. Felicity and Lyla walked in with Barry and Iris, followed by two more guards, adding to the one in each corner.

“Barry, thank god. Someone who understands,” he exclaimed, leaning against the bars.

“Stay back, he’s dangerous,” Lyla warned quietly as Barry stepped forwards.

“If he is as dangerous as you say he would have already killed us all,” Iris stated bluntly. Oliver had always liked Barry’s crush but he was thinking he liked the Earth-2 version even more.

“I am from Earth-1,” Oliver stated and Barry’s eyes widened.

“Leave us alone,” Barry asked, waving towards Felicity and Lyla without breaking eye contact with Oliver.

“We can’t do that sir,” Felicity stated.

“Felicity can stay,” Oliver blurted out without thinking, stunning everyone but Felicity recovered in record time. Everyone else was removed from the room and Oliver began to explain.

 

“How can someone disappear off the face of the earth?” Felicity exclaimed, kicking the steel table and instantly regretting it as she hopped around nursing her bruised toes.

“Oliver is a trained spy,” John stated but it was clear he was frustrated too.

“Last time I was able to track him, it was a long process but I always had leads,” Felicity continued moaning. They had seen Oliver jump into an alley to break up an assault. The woman had run, the man hobbled out a few minutes later but Oliver never left. No CCTV cameras showed the alleyway but they had coverage of the rooves either side; Oliver never left that way and there were no doors leading into the buildings. There was no feasible way that Oliver could have left that alley. Felicity even double checked that the cameras hadn’t been altered. There was Oliver’s blood in the alley but no trail. There was no leads, absolutely no way to move forward from this point.

“Thea’s still out there with some of our underworld contacts. Maybe she’ll dig up something,” John continued, trying to keep their hopes up. Felicity couldn’t help but notice the parallels to when Oliver was almost killed by Ra’s al Ghul; except that time it was Felicity trying to keep the team’s hopes up now she had no idea what to do.

“I have something!” Thea screamed, jumping down the side staircase. “One of Roy’s old friends approached me saying that someone on the darknet had been gloating that they have captured and defeated the arrow. He’s given me the password you need to access the site,” Thea continued, her bow already discarded on the floor, and she waved a piece of tatty paper in the air triumphantly. Felicity snatched it out of her hand and set to work. All she needed to do was set up a trace on the account to try and get the location of the person editing it; after she had checked that Oliver was okay. And if she made a login name that clearly showed they knew the Arrow and called him out then the kidnapper may come to them. It loaded up and the first picture nearly made Felcity sick. It was clearly Oliver, he still had on the hood and mask but she would know his face anywhere. He was deeply unconscious with a pool of blood spreading around his head. It matched with the dried blood in the alley way. It was definitely the kidnapping. As she scrolled down it was a lot of gloating, claiming he was the best criminal that Star City has ever seen and he ruled this city.

“What’s that?” John asked pointing at a camera shape in the top corner. Felicity blocked off all their servers and data before clicking on the box. A live video filled their screen and this time Felicity did have to take a step back. It was a room not dissimilar to a prison cell. It had a toilet and a sink and am old rusty bed. It was the figure sat on the bed that shocked them. The figure was dressed all in the Arrow outfit and zooming in on the face it was clearly Oliver; a bruise blossomed across his jaw line and he kept his head bowed. His arms were cuffed tightly in front of him and his knees pulled up to his chin. “Something’s not right,” John stated as Felicity tried to compose herself. Everything looked very simple to her; Oliver was being held captive for this faceless criminal to show his superiority. “Oliver would be able to get out of there,” John stated, dragging everyone’s attention to him. “He’s good enough to be an ARGUS agent and apparently he broke out of ARGUS custody repeatedly, cuffs and a locked door would never keep him in. There are plenty of ways he could get out of there in his sleep. And look he’s shaking, like he’s scared,” John explained and the women did have to admit he was right. Oliver had always been able to squeeze out of tight spots and that was nothing compared to some of the escape acts he had pulled.

“So are you saying he’s drugged or something,” Thea frowned but before John could answer, the live feed closed and all their systems shut down. The lights flickered and there was nothing Felicity could do to reboot.

“Well isn’t this nice.”


	3. Chapter 3

“My name is Oliver Jonas Queen, born 16th May 1986 to Moira and Robert Queen. I have a little sister Thea who I love more than anything and have called Speedy all my life because of how hyperactive she was as a child. I was on my family’s yacht when it sunk and I was one of two survivors. I washed up on an island in the North China Sea where I had to fight to survive for five years until I was able to make my way home. I became the Green Arrow to save people and to take down those that were ruining Star City. At first I killed, yes but then I changed my ways when I met a wonderful blonde IT girl at Queen Consolidated, my company, called Felicity Smoak. I proposed to her and she accepted. We defeated Malcolym Meryln, Slade Wilson, Damien Darhk, Ra’s al Ghul, Nyssa al Ghul. Barry Allen is one of my best friends and I love him like a brother even though I’ll never admit that to him and I’m hard on him sometimes. I’m jealous that he gets to be the public hero figure and I can’t. I helped him defeat Eobard Thawne and he came to me for help many times. He told me about his adventure to Earth-2 where he met Barry Allen, the not-Flash CSI that helped rescue him even though he had no obligation to, he told me about the brave police detective Iris West-Allen, he told me about Caitlyn Snow, Killer Frost who had a change of heart and helped them hold off Zoom so they could all escape. Please believe me, I don’t know what else I can say to convince you but there is some big grand plan here that needs the Green Arrow out of the way on Earth-1. Zoom and Al-Sah-him are working together to take out my Barry and I need to help save them. They won’t know what is coming and the longer I spend sat in this cell the higher the risk to the people I love!” Oliver ranted, stunning Barry, Iris and Felicity. Oliver was starting to wear thin; he didn’t want to fight his way out of this but he would if he had to. Zoom and Al Sah-him were teaming up and that could never end well for anyone. That was also assuming the Al Sah-him had the same skill set to Oliver but with the killing instinct more honed and better practiced. All in all, not a good thing.

“I believe him,” Barry blurted out, once the trio recovered from their stunned silence. A lot of the facts match up with the things Earth-1 Cisco and Earth-1 Barry told me and there is no way Al Sah-him would know all these details about us or have such a complex back up story just in case this situation was to happen,” Barry explained, Felicity had to admit he was right despite the fact her scientific mind instantly rejected the idea that people could travel between alternate universes. She accepted that there could be alternate universes but not that people with no powers or protection could travel between them.

“He genuinely believes it,” Iris shrugged.

“I can’t just let him out. How am I supposed to explain to my superiors that I let the most wanted criminal in the world go, not because it turns out he was my husband, because I believe he is Oliver Queen from an alternate universe and he is their Arrow but he’s actually a good guy in that magical world?” Felicity exclaimed.

“Well I wouldn’t phrase it that way,” Barry tentatively joked only to receive mirroring glares from both the women.

“We cannot wait, I need to…” Oliver began before a siren pierced the air.

“We’ve been breached!” Felicity exclaimed, diving to open the door with her pistol drawn. “You two stay in here with the civilians and the prisoner,” Felicity ordered two of the guards outside before diving into the fray. The two guards stepped inside the room, locking the doors but it seemed they were more wary of Oliver than the ruckus outside.

“Let me out. They want to kill me and I will not let others die in my battle,” Oliver hissed at the guards but they didn’t even move.

“Maybe it’s best to stay in here Oliver, you don’t want someone shooting at you instead of the enemy,” Barry tried to appease Oliver as the vigilante began to pace.

 

“Well isn’t this nice,” the disembodied voice chimed, echoing around the liar. “I knew you fools would find me eventually but you are better than I expected,” it continued.

“Well, I am the best,” Felicity snapped back and she tried to get her systems back online so she could track the transmission back to their kidnapper. She wasn’t boasting, she was the best but even she couldn’t speed up the amount of time it took to reboot all their very complex systems and kill the threat before it shut them down again.

“Oh contraire mon petite, I’ll have you know that I am the best. And I have your little leader firmly in my grasp. So here’s the deal. I will trade you Mr Oliver Queen, for Mr Barry Allen and your city. You bring the Speedster and disband your organisation and he will be returned to you unharmed,” the voice demanded. Barry, how was the flash involved in this? And if they just wanted to do the trade, why kidnap the most powerful member of their team? Felicity hated to admit it but she was clearly the best choice for a kidnap victim, she wouldn’t be able to escape on her own and Oliver would do anything to save her. Everything just wasn’t adding up and every time they tried to uncover an answer they only found more questions.

“Why should we give in to your demands?” Thea spoke up, her voice crackling but surprisingly strong considering the situation.

“Because if you don’t, I will still get The Flash and the whole world will see me slowly take the Green Arrow to pieces and the next time you see him face to face it will be just before you lower him into the ground,” the voice threatened before it cut away, just as Felicity got the systems back online. The four of them remained still and silent as they tried to come to terms with what was happening.

“We need to call in Team Flash and review the footage on that website again. We cannot let this bastard hold all the cards. I still think there is something wrong with Oliver and there is no way we can walk in there blind,” Diggle broke the silence with his military mind set. That’s what they needed, they needed to think about this like it wasn’t Oliver in that room. And there was no time to waste.

 

“Let me out!” Oliver shouted, banging his fist against the bars. They could all hear the carnage outside and Oliver needed to help. He had been trying the whole time to deny that fact that Felcity was the same as his Felicity but then it hit him, he couldn’t hurt or let her be hurt but it seemed like the Oliver Queen of this world loved Felicity just as much as he did. He couldn’t let the primary school teacher lose the love of his life like Oliver did; he couldn’t be responsible for the collapse of their relationship like he was responsible for the collapse of his own. He would give his life to save Felicity, no matter what world they were on. It was his fault they were involved in this and he would not sit in a cell while they all died. The guards remained silent. The locks were too high tech for him to pick, he needed a key card from one of the agents but they knew him too well. Neither of them would get anywhere near him for him to try and get his hands on a card.

“Please calm down Oliver, I’m sure ARGUS can deal with this, they seem capable,” Barry tried to appease the angry vigilante. Needless to say it didn’t work. The door whooshed open and an Argus agent went flying into the room and laid prone on the floor. An assassin from the league, stepped in the door, easily took out the two stunned agents and levelled his bow at Barry and Iris.

“We have come to rescue you Al Sah-him,” the assassin stated and Oliver growled.

“I think she might have something to say about that,” Barry hissed, drawing the assassin’s attention just in time for Felicity to body slam him, throwing the assassin to the ground. She struggled with him but even with Felicity’s good fighting still, the assassin was overpowering her with weight and training.

“Barry!” Oliver shouted, reaching his hand out for a key card. Barry moved in a flash of motion that Earth-1 Barry would be proud of and Oliver effortlessly caught the card, swiping it down and kicking the assassin in the face in one movement.

“Oliver,” Iris shouted and Oliver turned just in time to catch the knife Iris threw to him. Now he was ready. The assassin shuffled to his feet just in time to deflect Oliver’s first blow and then the two were locked in combat. They were both trained by the league but Oliver had the scrappy edge that his training by Yao Fey and Slade gave him. That gave him the edge that was needed to land a blow in between the ribs and the assassin to fall to the floor. The shocked look on the assassin’s face confirmed Oliver’s suspicions. They didn’t know that Earth-1’s Green Arrow was trained by Ra’s al Ghul; they thought he was just self-taught not a trained assassin. A smile twitched at Oliver’s lips as he launched into the fray outside. The fight became everything and despite the initial hesitation, the ARGUS agents were starting to accept that Oliver was fighting for them as the assassin’s fell around him. He didn’t kill any of them; he was trying to prove he wasn’t a killer, even an accidental death would ruin his progress. At some point he ended up back to back with Felicity and they fought in tandem, Felicity wielded her pistol with a detached efficiency as Oliver dealt with any that dared get too close to the pair. The last one was felled with Oliver’s knife and he finally snapped out of the war like daze that had plagued him ever since Felicity had left him; he had been fighting in an emotionless state to pretend like he wasn’t feeling anger and self-loathing in his regular life. Oliver spun round and found himself face to face with Felcity Smoak; he couldn’t move. There was a cut on her forehead that would need stitches and a spot where he knew a bruise would be forming in the morning. He just wanted to clean the blood from her face and softly kiss the bruised spot to promise her it would all be okay. But he couldn’t. Because she wasn’t his Felicity. So Oliver turned away, dropping the knife to the floor.

“That was some good moves there Mr Queen,” Lyla stated, supporting her shoulder and looking worse for wear. He didn’t reply; now would not be the time to point out he was actually trained by Ra’s al Ghul.

“Lock them all away. We can interrogate them when they come to,” Felicity ordered.

“Check the seams of their clothes, they have hidden weapons,” Oliver also ordered. He realised his mistake when the agents stopped in their tracks to look at him.

“Do what he says,” Felicity sighed, rubbing a battered hand through her hair as she spun around to talk to Iris and Barry. Thankfully the cop had been able to keep Barry safe and out of the fray and the CSI wasn’t too scared.

“We are going to move all three of you to a safe house. I believe you Oliver, don’t make me regret this.”


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver, Barry, Iris, Caitlyn and Felicity all sat round the dining room table staring at each other. Oliver was happy to know that Caitlyn had survived and it was good to have someone on their team who had faced Zoom head on and survived. They had people who knew Zoom better than anyone else and, assuming the league worked in the same way, Oliver knew the league better than anyone else seen as though he was once set to inherit it. Speaking of that unfortunate fact, “how did you learn to fight like that?” Felicity asked, breaking the silence. “You cannot learn moves like that by being self-taught,” she added sceptically when Oliver tensed.

“I was trained by a Chinese army general, an American Special Forces agent, ARGUS and,” Oliver listed but paused before the last entry. This wouldn’t help Felicity trust him but he knew first-hand how bad an idea it was to keep secrets from her. “The League of Assassins,” Oliver finished, the shock rippled across his crowd.

“So you are an assassin, I knew it!” Felicity exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and sending the chair flying.

“Just listen to me. In my world there is a man called Malcom Merlyn, he wanted the Ra’s al Ghul dead so he manipulated me into challenging Ra’s to a duel to the death. I was unable to defeat him but somehow I survived. There was a prophecy that whoever survived the sword of Ra’s al Ghul would become the next Ra’s al Ghul. He almost killed my sister and I traded her life for mine. I trained under him to learn how to defeat him. I did and now the league has been disbanded,” Oliver explained before the other Felicity decided that he was an assassin and a bullet landed between his eyes.

“We’ve trusted him this far, he would be an idiot to admit he was in the league now if he was trying to trick us,” Barry once again acted as the mediator and brought the rational voice to the situation.

“I know how badly keeping secrets ends in our world and I refuse to do it anymore. I will not sacrifice the chance to save both our worlds just for my pride. I know the league inside and out because I was groomed to lead it,” Oliver stated, slamming a twitching fist down on the table.

“Do you think the league are in support of Al Sah-him’s actions?” Iris asked, quietly.

“He wouldn’t dare go against Ra’s, the rebellion is drilled out of you and the league becomes everything. I destroyed the best friendship I ever had when Ra’s was testing my loyalties. Even if he is Ra’s al Ghul’s favourite, to be able to pull this plan off he would need the support of his master,” Oliver stated.

“Would you be able to infiltrate the league again?” Felicity asked, looking straight at Oliver as if she was staring into his soul. “If we can get someone in the league to talk then we may be able to work out their plan,” she continued, pacing restlessly.

“It depends how much Zoom has told Ra’s about me. The assassins in the base didn’t seem to expect me to fight the way I did. I could go to them claiming that I am Heir to the Demon in the other world and I don’t want to be a pawn in this plan anymore, and I want to work with them,” Oliver mused. He hated what he had to do when he went undercover but he knew the assassins they caught wouldn’t talk. No one ever talked. They needed someone undercover and he was the best choice.

 

Team Flash arrived one by one, seconds after Felicity hung up. It did help having a speedster on the payroll. “Oliver’s been kidnapped!” Barry exclaimed as soon as he had brought Iris, Cisco and Caitlyn into the Arrow Cave.

“By some unknown web hacker, generally evil guy that wants Barry dead and Star City in his grasp,” Felicity blurted out, still furiously typing away trying to identify who it was that managed to tear through her security.

“The only person who currently wants Barry dead is Zoom but why would he take Oliver and want Star City,” Caitlyn mused while Cisco dived in to help Felicity.

“Our first priority needs to be saving Oliver then we can work out how to stop the new Big Bad,” Cisco piped up and Felicity had to agree; as long as this fool had Oliver he had leverage over them and he would flaunt it.

“Our only lead is the feed and the website, I am trying to find the IP address the website is based at but if he is smart he will have set it up somewhere away and reroute the feed through proxy servers all over the world. It may take a bit of time to untangle the web and may not give us anything,” Felicity stated with angry undertones to her whole demeanour. How many times had she been the damsel in distress and Oliver swooped in to rescue her? One time he literally swooped in. She needed to repay the favour and get him back. And tell him how much he meant to her.

“Can you isolate any details from the feed that might give us a general location? If we get a vague area then Barry can survey it quickly,” Thea suggested, it was a long shot as it was usually sounds that are the most helpful but maybe they might be able to get something. It gave the rest of the team something to do as Felicity and Cisco tried to find a digital needle in a haystack.

“I’ll go out and see if anyone knows anything more about this guy. It would all spread by word of mouth. I might be able to follow it back to its origin,” Diggle continued, his nervous energy radiating through the whole room.

“I’ll go with Laurel. Diggle go home to Lyla and Sara,” Iris interrupted. It was later than they all imagined. The day had dragged by, and the team had been working solidly for three days ever since Oliver went missing.

“Yeah Dig, head home. Maybe if we all came at this with fresh eyes we might get somewhere,” Felicity murmured, but she continued typing.

“That includes you Felicity, come on. Oliver wouldn’t want you to run yourself ragged like this,” Barry sighed, spinning Felicity’s chair round and crossing his arms.

“We can’t just give up,” Felicity whispered but everyone could see the exhaustion seeping through her.

“It isn’t giving up,” Barry smiled softly while gently pulling Felicity up out of the chair, “It’s just taking a little nap.”

 

Luckily for their insane plan, Nanda Parbat was in the same place as it was on Oliver’s world. It would have taken them far too long to work out where it was especially without Felicity’s computer skills. That was the biggest shock yet. He couldn’t imagine a world where Felicity Smoak wasn’t a computer whizz; he could deal with the military training and the lack of babbling but not the lack of computer skills. Felicity, Barry, Caitlyn and Iris had just chalked it down to an Earth-1 quirk when Oliver wouldn’t stop asking Felicity about it. But now he stood at the top of the valley, staring at the fortress. ARGUS had thankfully returned the suit and his bow; he was lost without the bow in his hand and would never willingly go into a hostile situation without its trusty weight in his grip. He was on his own now and their plan relied on this pretence; Oliver knew the only way he was getting out of this alive was if the Ra’s here believed that he was heir to the demon. And if he died here then Zoom and Al Sah-him would have their scapegoat handed to them on a platter and the others would not be able to do anything. Oliver pulled on his mask and pulled the hood up as he continued his trek. They would soon be notified of the trespasser and a team would be dispatched to either kill him or bring him in. He hoped that the outfit would peak their curiosity just enough to get a meeting with Ra’s al Ghul. The last time he approached this place was with Thea in his arms, ready to sign his life away to an organisation that was the opposite of everything he believed and fought for. Oliver hadn’t thought about it before but this place was probably gathering dust after Nyssa disbanded the league. He should go check on it if he ever made it back to Earth-1. As expected, the hairs on the back of Oliver’s neck stood up as he sensed someone watching him. But he kept walking, the same leisurely pace that radiated confidence. He could fight off these assassins if he had to but it would be a waste of energy and would leave him with injuries he didn’t need for this meeting. “Halt!” a gruff voice echoed around him and Oliver slowly stopped and turned around with his arms in the air. “You are not Al Sah-him!” the leader of the party growled and five bows were all pointed at him.

“That is debatable. See I do not appreciate being pulled from my world on a whim of your master. I wish to speak with Ra’s al Ghul!” Oliver shouted, his voice dropping a pitch into stone cold arrow mode. His face dropped all emotion apart from mild irritance. It scared him how quickly Al Sah-him came to the surface. His words caused confusion amidst the group as Oliver stood there proudly.

“We will take you to him, release your weapon,” the assassin ordered and Oliver lowered his arms slowly.

“I refuse and you have no right. I come bearing no ill will and an assassin does not entrust his weapon to those he does not trust,” Oliver stated, stepping towards the leader menacingly. “You will have to take it from me by force and I assure you it will not end well for you,” he continued when they were face to face. It was a good omen that no one had shot him yet.

“You will follow us, Ra’s al Ghul will be intrigued with your presence,” the lead assassin stated and it was only then the bows began to the lowered. He had passed obstacle one, only a thousand more to go.

 

Barry had managed to keep Felicity away from the Arrow Cave long enough that she got a couple of hours of sleep. She hated to admit it but she did feel better and was coming at their problem from a new mind set. The panic had been drained away and she accepted they had time to work this out. The faceless man wouldn’t kill or hurt Oliver too much as long as it looked like they were working. It physically pained them all but they had decided to stop helping the small crimes. They had to agree to his terms to keep Oliver safe. “I could try and lure him out but we all know I can’t beat Zoom if he is involved. And if they are wanting to keep me contained then they will have something to keep me from accessing the Speedforce,” Barry sighed when Felicity and Cisco still came up with nothing. They fell back into silence. It was the Arrow Phone’s chime that startled them all. Only a limited number of people knew about this phone: Sara, Nyssa, Lance and Barry; one of them was sat in the cave and two were in the wind. They didn’t have time for Detective Lance’s judgement now.

“I’ll get it,” Laurel mumbled, reaching the same conclusions as Felicity had; Quentin was starting to like Felicity more now he was dating Donna but Laurel was still the best one to deal with him. Laurel reached over grabbing the phone and stepping out of the way.

“We don’t know if it is Zoom. You do have other enemies and we shut off all the breaches,” Caitlyn argued but Barry would not be swayed.

“He took Jay and we haven’t heard from him since. He wouldn’t give up that easily,” Barry replied as Laurel returned.

“My dad has a lead. He said that a murder suspect is holed up in an abandoned hotel in the Glades; he has a few hired guns guarding all the entrances and wants Team Arrow’s help in finding out what is going on in there. He said the guy isn’t on any database, it seems like he doesn’t exist,” Laurel explained and Thea was on her feet in a second. “He could be holding Olly in there!” she exclaimed grabbing her outfit as Felicity nodded. They finally had something to work with.


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver strode into the main hall of Nanda Parbat to stand in front of the throne. Ra’s al Ghul wasn’t there; it was a power play to try and make the opponent nervous. Oliver knew the tricks, he wouldn’t fall for it. There was no point developing nerves now, he had the upper hand as he knew how the league worked and Ra’s didn’t know how Oliver worked. He did wonder if the Ra’s in this world was the same as the Ra’s in his. Realistically it could be anyone apart from the people he had met already of course. The doors to his left thumped open but Oliver remained staring straight ahead stoically. The figure strode over and stood in front of the throne on the dais. And Oliver lost himself to rage; something he hadn’t done since Malcolm Merlyn. “You!” Oliver snarled, throwing himself at this world’s Ra’s al Ghul. Slade Wilson. This did catch Slade and the assassins by surprise as Oliver whipped his bow against Slade’s face and planted a solid roundhouse kick on the giant’s chest that threw him back against the throne. Slade did react quickly and pulled Oliver down to the ground with a strength that Oliver could never match. Oliver got a couple of solid punches in but when pinned down there was nothing Oliver could do to match Slade’s brute force. As had happened far too many times with the Australian, Oliver was locked in a headlock struggling to breathe as Slade slowly pushed down on his windpipe. It was that which cleared his mind; the lines between his world and Earth-2 were blurring. He had to remember that the Slade here wasn’t the Slade that killed his mother, destroyed his company, tried to kill Felicity and tried to kill both him and Thea when they were on the island. This was the Slade that he needed to manipulate into accepting his fealty. He had just ruined the whole plan, losing his control like he did when he worked for ARGUS. Oliver hated that Slade still had that power over him.

“You have been trained well Mr Queen. Not many can last that long in hand to hand combat with me,” Slade stated, he released Oliver sending the other man sprawling. “I assume my Earth-1 counterpart did something to wrong you, what was it?” he continued, looming over Oliver’s grimacing form.

“You killed my mother, tried to kidnap the love of my life and destroyed my city all to get revenge for something that wasn’t my doing,” Oliver snarled as two faceless assassin’s pulled him to his feet.

“I understand your reaction then. That is underhand, I assure you I never drag loved ones into feuds,” Slade nodded, stepping closer to Oliver. “Why did you come here Mr Queen after you caused the capture of some of my best warriors? If you were here to kill me I assume a man of your talents wouldn’t have walked in the front door,” Slade continued as he waved for Oliver to be released. Oliver straightened up and composed himself back into the Al Sah-him mind set.

“My apologies sir for my display. Sometimes my anger overcomes my training,” Oliver bowed his head and clasped his hands behind his back. “I came here because you and your enforcer dragged me away from my throne,” Oliver commented, some calm returning to his demeanour as he tried to drag this back on track.

“Throne? Al Sah-him said you were some low level vigilante?” Slade frowned, Oliver could feel his judging glare.

“I am Al Sah-him, husband to the demon; one of the few to survive the blade of Ra’s al Ghul. I am no low level vigilante. By kidnapping me you have started a war you will not be able to win,” Oliver snarled and a hush fell over the assembled assassins and Slade Wilson.

“In your world you are a survivor of the demon’s sword?” Slade asked but Oliver was in the flow now.

“I was to inherit the throne. My dear wife was the daughter of the demon trained to rule since her birth. She is Ra’s al Ghul. I am Al Sah-him, the Arrow, the enforcer, the demon’s sword. And I have a preposition”

 

Of course Barry was the first to arrive on the scene but thankfully Iris and Felicity had convinced him to wait for back up before he goes charging in there. Thea, Laurel and John raced up a couple of moments later skidding to a halt next to the speedster. Felicity, Cisco, Iris and Caitlyn watched from the base. “I can’t get any information from inside, someone is blocking my attempts. It is probably the person from the hack,” Felicity relayed to the team.

“I’ll breach the front with Barry. Dig and Laurel you take the back,” Thea suggested and despite her being the youngest on the team they agreed.

“Take out the guy if you can but the priority has to be removing Oliver,” Felicity exclaimed as they breached. She received no response but they all heard. Now all the team at the Arrow Cave could do was wait and listen to the sounds of fighting.

“It’ll be okay Felicity,” Caitlyn stated softly but with unwavering confidence.

“Thanks for coming,” Felicity smiled, leaning against Caitlyn’s shoulder. She was great friends with the central city scientist; it was unfortunate that there had to be a life threatening situation for them to visit each other.

“We weren’t going to leave you to deal with alone. As much as they hate to admit it Barry and Oliver are friends and so are we,” Caitlyn smiled, letting Felicity use her for comfort.

“Overwatch, we’ve got him. He passed out as soon as he tried to stand up but he looks okay. Barry’s going to bring him back,” John called through the speakers. Felicity didn’t have time to celebrate as Barry arrived moments later. Oliver was covered in dirt and dried blood with the cuts and bruises on his face probably to blame for him passing out on them.

“Put him on the table,” Caitlyn commanded, straight from comforting friend to professional doctor. They had cleared the table earlier and Caitlyn had already set up an IV ready for him. It was likely that Oliver was dehydrated and would need minor medical treatment; they were right. On first evaluation he just had a few cuts and scrapes with bruises dotted around, most intensely where his hands had been cuffed together.

“Oliver’s withstood worse,” John stated, his arms crossed tightly across his chest as he watched. “There is something not right here,” he murmured but Felicity ignored him. This was not the time for naysaying; it was a time for celebration, soon Oliver would be back on his feet and they would all take down this mystery villain. Oliver’s eyes softly fluttered open but as soon as they did he jumped up and nearly fell off the table like a startled animal. “What? Where? Who, Felicity!” he exclaimed and then threw himself at the blonde, planting a kiss straight on her lips as he wrapped his arms around her body.

“What?” Thea exclaimed and Felicity just remained as still as a stone statue, frozen solid with shock.

 

Slade had emptied the room now only Oliver and Slade remained, stood face to face in a battle of wills. There was no way Oliver would let Slade beat him again; he had locked away the demons that had plagued him along with Slade on Lian Yu. If that meant he had to make a deal with the devil then he had done it before and would do it a million times again to save Felicity. At least this time, the alternate Felicity knew his plan and agreed. Despite knowing that his Felicity, the Felicity from his world he really needed to stop calling her his, would disagree it made him feel a little bit better that her doppelganger agreed. “What is your preposition?” Slade asked, settling down onto his throne as he spoke.

“You do not know your ally in Zoom,” Oliver began. It hadn’t taken him long to drift back into the Al Sah-him mind set; it was worrying if he dwelled on it too long, to think that the assassin was that close to the surface. He tried to lock everything away after he met Felicity but he would always be a murder, Ra’s al Ghul jut helped him acknowledge that. “He will not let your Al Sah-him live and conquer my city. You ever think why he needs your soldiers, because he cannot get what he wants and defeat my forces on his own. The only reason he is still alive is because we can’t catch him. He will kill your best soldier, you will never move into the other world and you will have started a war with my league. Or you can join me. You can tell me how Zoom opened the breach, where he opened it and how you were to communicate with Al Sah-him. Then we will join forces, take down Zoom, we can maintain the breaches and help each other with our issues. You will rule this world; my wife and I will rule our earth and we remain allies,” Oliver proposed. He hoped that the league would help him take down Zoom then he could stop them opening anymore breaches and lock them away on Earth-2. There was no way to take down the League of Assassins in any world; they only eliminated the League on Earth-1 by picking the lesser of three evils to be in charge of it and having her disband it. Taking power by force and disbanding the league would never work, they would only reform; it had to be someone the league trusted and Nyssa was that person. He hated misleading the alternate Felicity this way but he never promised her that he would take down the league from the inside. He was there to get his information and then save his city and his friends. He would return her Oliver but that was all. Zoom’s fate was up to Barry and she would have to deal with Al Sah-him and Slade Wilson on her own.

“So you suggest we join forces to conquer both worlds, all you need is the promise of my men and information on the current plan?” Slade questioned with a frown.

“Yes, and the promise that Al Sah-him will either stay out of our way or aid us,” Oliver nodded and he waited and watched the gears turn in Slade’s mind. It was a good offer, he would be a fool to turn it down.

“I accept your terms but it is getting late, you shall stay with us and we will discuss the plan further in the morning,” Slade nodded, gesturing for Oliver to follow on of the faceless assassins as Slade got to his feet.

“I thank you for your hospitality,” Oliver bowed but he knew it wasn’t over yet. Slade agreed far to quickly, something else was coming.


	6. Chapter 6

Once Felicity recovered from the shock, she pushed Oliver off her and back onto the steel table. She stumbled backwards, leaning against the railing to try and compose herself. “What was that? Why would you? Not that it was bad, it was actually really good just really unexpected, you know, because I walked out. It was very dramatic and I thought I put the point across quite well,” Felicity babbled as Oliver looked around with more confusion than the situation should warrant.

“What do you mean? We’re together, we’re married. How long was I kidnapped for?” Oliver replied while slowly climbing off the table and getting to his feet.

“Married,” Felicity squealed at a pitch that a dog would howl at.

“Yes, why, why wouldn’t you remember us getting married? It was a small service on the beach with just our closest friends and family. Your dad managed to get the time off work and he flew over with your mother; my mum organised all the entertainment and you had to get my dad to drag her away so it would still be your wedding. Tommy was my best man and Sara was your maid of honour how can you not remember our wedding?” Oliver exclaimed with a panic that none of them had seen since Thea’s almost death. He outstretched his hand to Felicity before grabbing hers. “Where’s your ring? Even if I was missing you should be wearing your ring and who are all these people?” Oliver questioned, staring straight through Felicity’s soul with his big blue eyes. The problem was he was wearing a ring; she could dismiss this all as a paranoid delusion if he hadn’t been wearing a wedding band where she should have slid it on their wedding day. Felicity looked back up into his eyes to see the water pooling on the surface. Now this sounded cheesy in her own head but those weren’t Oliver’s eyes; Oliver’s eyes were startlingly blue like these were but underneath they burnt with a cool fire. It was clear that Oliver’s eyes had seen so much pain and hurt but they still burnt; these eyes didn’t have that fire. They were scared and confused and this person was looking for someone to hold him up when Oliver would be closing himself off.

“This isn’t Oliver,” Felicity murmured, pulling her hand out of his and flinching away from the visible signs of his heart breaking. Everyone looked at her sceptically. “I don’t know who this man is and what part he plays in all of this but that is not Oliver!” Felicity exclaimed.

“I agree. I know Ollie better than anyone and that just isn’t right,” Thea nodded, resting her hand on Felicity’s shoulder.

“Well, well you aren’t my Felicity and I don’t even know you!” Oliver exclaimed with a hoarse and weak voice waving between Felicity and Thea.

“So what now?” Cisco voiced everyone’s thoughts.

 

Oliver couldn’t sleep. He knew he should rest to be back on full form after minimal sleep in a prison cell after a major concussion but every time he closed his eyes the pain radiated from his brand and he felt like he was reliving the torture that almost drained him of all that was Oliver Queen. The longer he stayed in this place the more of himself he would lose and now even Felicity was far out of his reach. Before he had the fact that Felicity would never see him like this to sooth the pain but now he didn’t even have that. He had to get out of here, he had to travel back to Earth-1 to be able to save everyone. So as well as fighting to survive, his soul had to survive as well. But despite the negative effects on the next morning, Oliver was glad that sleep continued to allude him. A shadow moved by the window. To anyone who hadn’t been trained by the league, it would just be a trick of his hyperactive mind or a bird flying outside but Oliver was not fooled. Slowly, Oliver inched his hand towards the blade he kept stashed down the side of the mattress. This time the assassins would not underestimate his skills. Just as his hand gripped around the handle of the blade, he heard quiet footsteps heading towards the bed. Somehow Oliver managed to keep his breathing level to feign sleep. The element of surprise was his. As he heard the assassin loom over him, Oliver snapped his eyes open, darted up and the blade pierced his opponents chest before his mind had chance to keep up. Another enemy approached from behind, swinging his blade. Oliver rolled out of bed just as the blade was in motion and it slashed into the mattress. Throwing the knife he kept on the table, Oliver pinned the man to the wall through his shoulder and just had enough time to kick the legs out from underneath the next man to try his luck. He thumped to the floor with his blade being sent flying across the room. Another two appeared in the window, running at him with only the bed between them. The assassin on the floor decided to try and use his size to overpower Oliver but he was much faster and soon the assassin was in a chock hold and his neck snapped with only a quick moment of remorse. It was do or die in Nanda Parbat. Throwing up the mattress, Oliver managed to use it as a shield to block the arrows that thudded into it. He could hear one set of footsteps approaching the bed, if he raised his head over his shield then it would be taken off by the archer. Oliver closed his eyes and breathed deeply, time seemed to slow as he honed his senses. He had to give in to his instincts; the skills that Slade and Yao Fei taught him, the instincts that ARGUS exploited and lead to him becoming a monster. He had been holding back but six assassins on one was not good odds in his favour. He had to truly become Al Sah-him not just pretend. His eyes snapped open and he felt at one with the blade. He hadn’t been able to move like this since he beat Malcolm Meryln, except this time there was no one to stop him.

 

“So Oliver, what can you remember about your kidnapping?” Caitlyn asked, sitting down next to Oliver on the couch. After their confrontation John had the idea that one, they should move this to a nicer location and two, they should get someone who wasn’t as close to ‘the real’ Oliver to talk to them. Caitlyn was the best option. She was a scientist so would be rational about all possibilities and she had only met Oliver a couple of times. Oliver played with the cushion in his hands nervously, looking away from Caitlyn’s soft gaze. The loft was bare ever since Felicity moved out but she had left that cushion in her haste to leave Oliver Queen’s lies. It made her pause to see the other Oliver taking comfort in it. “I was driving back from work at around ten to six two weeks ago. A man in a balaclava and dressed all in black kept on calling me the Arrow and laughing. But I’m not the Arrow I’m just a Primary School teacher!” He explained, his voice rising in hysterics as he tried to make sense of what had actually happened.  
“It’s okay Oliver. We know that you aren't the Arrow,” Caitlyn smiled, trying to reassure Oliver so he would keep talking and explain his containment.  
“He made me wear the costume all the time in that room where your friends found me. The Arrow’s a monster and why would this villain want people to think I was him!” He continued, eyes flittering frantically  to the kitchen where Felicity and Thea stood trying not to stare at the meeting.  
“We don't know Oliver but that is what we are trying to find out. How do you know Felicity?” Caitlyn asked, her hand resting on his trembling leg.  
“We met at a coffee shop about nine years ago. I was studying at UMass in Boston, learning to be an elementary school teacher. Felicity was studying law at Harvard. She was trying to revise for her exams in the café and it looked like she was struggling. We got talking and it turned out she didn't really want to be a lawyer. She just wanted to help people. We met up another couple of times to study together and then started dating. A year later, Felicity decided to train to be a CIA agent when we both graduated. I got a teaching job near where she was training and then based and I proposed on our fifth anniversary,” Oliver smiled wistfully before he caught Felicity’s eye, the smile dropped from his face in an instant.  
“So your Felicity is a CIA agent?” Caitlyn asked.  
“No, she’s an ARGUS agent,” Oliver frowned.  
  
Oliver came back to himself when he was stood panting over six dead bodies and the door behind him thumped open. His blade was tight in his grip and he ripped it from the still twitching body at his feet. In one swing, Oliver turned on his heels and the blade was against the intruder’s neck. “Well I am glad that I didn't walk through the door first,” Slade chuckled, pushing past the assassin that Oliver had at the end of his sword.  
“Care to explain why you attacked your guest? Your guest that has the forces to destroy your organisation,” Oliver snarled even though he knew the answer.  
“I needed to test you. Although it isn't every day I get someone making the claims you do, I had to prove you were telling the truth. The only way to do that was to see you fight,” Slade explained, circling Oliver like a vulture eying an injured gazelle. “And now I trust you Mr Queen, or shall I call you Al Sah-him,” Slade grinned before walking out with his entourage, leaving Oliver alone. When the door closed, the sword clattered from Oliver’s grasp into the pool of blood covering the floor in a greasy film. His whole body begun to shake and the reality hit. He knew he would have to pretend but he didn't realise how much killing again would affect him. He had vowed to Felicity that he would never kill again. His mind would stop thrumming, with the bloodlust he never used to bother fighting.


End file.
